“996” declared illegal – China’s labour law in flux

The Chinese judiciary and government are currently driving the development of Chinese labour law decisively forward. In doing so, they are responding to high levels of dissatisfaction among many workers and day laborers who suffer from unregulated working hours. In doing so, however, they are depriving numerous digital companies of the basis for their business: these had relied on the availability of cheap, flexible labour to be able to offer their services quickly and cheaply at a high profit.